by Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports

by Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports

First, let's clear up the really big picture on ESPN's Digger Phelps: He almost certainly won't be running for president.

President, that is, of the United States. Really.

Phelps, 71, actually considered that idea afters serving in the Office of National Drug Policy in the George H.W. Bush administration, where he headed the so-called Operation Weed and Seed that was meant to help develop struggling urban areas. He had never run for elective office but in 2006 he says he "gave serious thought to running (for president) as a Reagan Democrat. But in 2007, I stopped before everything kicked in. Funding was the issue. But as I said then, 'the nation needs a coach.' ''

So, you think a guy who thinks like that is going to get too worked up about battling cancer?

That's what the ESPN college basketball analyst is dealing with after having surgery for bladder cancer April 18, with months of follow-up treatment to go near his home in the South Bend, Ind., area. This is his second bout with cancer -- he had successful treatment for prostate cancer three years ago -- and talks about his current challenge almost as if he's drawing up plays in a timeout.

"They got it all. I have no more tumors in my body. So that was a relief," Phelps, 71, tells USA TODAY Sports. "Now it's, when does the game start and here's the game plan. Let's go after it!"

Seems almost like Phelps -- who went 393-197 in two decades coaching Notre Dame basketball before retiring in 1991 -- is ready to tell everybody to take a lap.

His treatment will include being given Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), which is also used to prevent tuberculosis. Yet he still will coach the Canadian men's over-35 basketball team in Israel's Maccabiah Games in July. That came about after a request from ESPN play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman, who's on that team roster.

"At first, I thought, 'You want an Irish Catholic from Notre Dame to coach a Maccabiah team from Canada in Israel?' " Phelps said.

Having agreed, Phelps says Shulman better not expect any special treatment: "If he does, he'll be on the bench."

Viewers today might best recognize Phelps as a TV analyst who color-coordinates his ties with the highlighter pens he waves on-air. And he long ago committed to TV and put aside the idea of a return to coaching. The turning point, he says, was turning down the DePaul coaching job in 1995: "I felt that job was a sleeping giant because of its (Chicago TV) market. The job was mine. But I decided my lifestyle on TV was what I liked doing."

Phelps isn't minimizing his current cancer bout. On overcoming prostate cancer, he remembers the first days as "a living hell because of the fear of the unknown." The first clues of the bladder cancer were occasionally getting blood in his urine -- although initially he thought it might just be a side effect of the blood thinner he took. His condition was detected quickly.

"When I turned 60, being an undertaker's son, I started to be smart -- and got physicals every six months," Phelps says.

Phelps also has plenty of extracurricular activities, such as staying involved with various grassroots educational efforts, painting -- "I'm a Matisse and Van Gogh freak! -- and playing a female character in an annual production of The Nutcracker in South Bend. Phelps doesn't hesitate to add that the role involves being "dressed up in drag."

He's also candid about his involvement in one of the more memorable gaffes in modern American history.

In 1992, Phelps was next to Dan Quayle as the then-U.S. vice president prodded a grade-schooler in New Jersey into spelling potato as "potatoe" -- with Phelps, at his side, apparently giving his blessing. Phelps recalls Quayle was misled by an aide's notes, and "it wasn't his fault." And he admits when the famous misspelling was in progress, he didn't exactly try to save the day: "I said, 'It looks good to me, so let's go with it.' ''

Phelps has a rather obvious conclusion about his personal game plan: "My life is about much more than X's and O's."